Class Warfare a la Joe the Lip

July 2011
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Class Warfare a la Joe the Lip

05 July 2011

George Rebane

This Sunday VP Joe Biden was speaking to fellow travelers at a Washington meeting of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union. He didn’t have to hold back on his deep-seated belief that more socialism is better, and he let it all hang out. To his audience our Vice President incredulously characterized the conservatives with –

They believe that one percent of the wage earners, controlling 24% of the wealth in this country, is a vehicle by which you can spur economic growth, because those with the wealth know the most and will know best what to do with that wealth.

Yes, the ones earning the wealth have always known what best to do with it. Our country has believed that for over two centuries. And now other countries are picking up on this principle of economic freedom, as our own memory of its blessings begins to fade. You bet your sweet butt Joe – you really nailed it with that little piece of class warfare demagoguery.

Posted in Current Affairs, Happenings, Our Country

157 responses to “Class Warfare a la Joe the Lip”

Mikey McD

05 July 2011

Joe’s mentality is sickening. Joe has never produced wealth of any significance (i.e. value to his fellow man) or burdened himself with reverence for individual liberty. Joe is a hateful, discriminating, hypocritical enemy of The People.
Progressives across the land (around the world) cannot deny the notion that their class warfare is based on emotion.
Is there something morally wrong to be either rich or poor? NO.
Is there something morally wrong in discriminating against a person for being rich or poor? YES.
Progressives target the wealthy and use statistics like “one percent of the wage earners, controlling 24% of the wealth” while they knowingly ignore the FACT that the top 5% of income earners pay over 60% of all federal income taxes collected (thanks to the aptly named progressive tax system).
Progressives claim to fight for the blue collar worker while denying the fact that the blue collar worker needs a strong economy in order to thrive.
Only when the progressive acknowledges the fact that economic activity is essential to the employment/wages of the masses can the real debate begin.
[How to foster robust economic activity/growth?
Does higher or lower taxes foster economic activity?
Do regulations help foster economic activity?
Does political uncertainty foster economic activity?
Does right-to-work foster economic activity?]
To target the rich as a means of ‘social justice’ is an emotional reaction which perpetuates a weak economy and weak employment prospects for blue collar workers. Today’s debate in Washington finds progressives insisting on higher taxes on the rich (at the expense of blue collar workers) as an emotional means of social justice which sacrifices economic activity/growth. Instead, conservatives and progressives alike should be fueling an economy which proudly (and freely) lifts wages and net worth’s of all Americans (including blue collar Americans). All Americans should promote policies which allow for the continuation of personal (individual) economic growth. Americans should be proud of the fact that “the number of people with more than $1 million of investable assets jumped 8.3% last year to 10.9 million.”

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Barry Pruett

05 July 2011

That type of talk is very dangerous to the future of this country.

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Ben Emery

05 July 2011

An economy can’t thrive without a well paid blue collar base or easy credit. Our credit has been used up over the last 30 years and our well paying blue collar jobs have left the country in the failed policy of free trade.
Until we start making things in America again we will not see an economic recovery.

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Ben Emery

05 July 2011

The problem you guys have is you see taxes as a punishment where I see taxes as dues for living in a civilized society. Those who benefit most off our system generally use much more of the infrastructure/ commons to make those gains and should pay into the system much more to keep their high benefits continue.

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Barry Pruett

05 July 2011

“Until we start making things in America again we will not see an economic recovery.”
Mining, timber, and other natural resource harvesting are blue collared jobs. Can we bring those back? How can we start manufacturing inexpensively by importing natural resources that we already possess? Your sentence above is a nice one-liner, but if you really want blue collar jobs, you should be supporting the California timber industry and mining.

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Mikey McD

05 July 2011

Ben, you are asking for the impossible. Please tell us what you would “allow” us to produce/manufacture (keeping in mind the regulations/hurdles enforced by countless gov agencies/Employee Unions- EPA, DOE, DOL, etc)?
We can’t drill, we can’t mine, we can’t manufacture with the restrictions imposed by The State and The State’s bedfellows (employee unions). I dare you to legally manufacture something in the USA.
“I see taxes as dues for living in a civilized society”- yet 51% of ‘americans’ DON’T PAY ANY FEDERAL INCOME TAX. How is that not hypocritical?! Socialists always claim that ‘we are all in this together’… until the bill comes.

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D. King

05 July 2011

Ben, did you forget your wallet…again?

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Scott Obermuller

05 July 2011

That’s hilarious Ben – “Those who benefit most off our system generally use much more of the infrastructure/ commons to make those gains and should pay into the system much more to keep their high benefits continue.” You are talking about repeat serial offenders, welfare sliders, illegal aliens, children born with deformities that will require institutional care for life, etc. They are the ones using more of the resources and what percentage of the income to the treasury do they contribute? A successful worker with a large income and a big house and lots of mechanical toys will pay a lot more in property taxes, fees, licensing and so forth before we even factor in the income taxes. Then to say that because he has the same rights as the poorer person, he needs to be paying not only more money in income taxes, but also a much higher rate on that income, then yes, at that point it does become punishment. It doesn’t balance the budget – it doesn’t produce a healthy growing economy – it doesn’t provide good, lasting jobs – but it makes you haters feel good, cause you’re “sticking it to the man”. Take a look at what’s happening in California. The libs are getting what they want, and the economy is sinking.

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Todd Juvinall

05 July 2011

What BenE and the liberals have done to the middle class in America is destroy it. They did it through higher taxes and fees and labor costs. That drove many jobs overseas and the jobs here were replaced with service sector, sweep up the floor and flip the burger jobs. BenE and his ilk are the true destroyers where we on the right are the harbingers of freedom and prosperity. His ilk ran it for long enough, it is time to bring Ameirca back. I say get rid of the regulations and tax and fee burdens and unleash our people’s prosperity once again.

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George Rebane

05 July 2011

On a per capita basis, as pointed out above, the top earners use less infrastructure than those who earn less. And the infrastructure that they use or cause to be used creates more jobs.
Until the borders are sealed to prevent passage of goods and labor, Americans as workers will compete with the world, and Americans as consumers will enjoy the benefits of that competition. Can America really become commercially isolationist? If American workers at any given skill level get paid higher than global wages for that skill level (taking transportation costs into account), then we will soon go bankrupt in isolation. We have been a trading economy since colonial times.
Memo to file: Globally trade is a zero-sum game, the sum of trade surpluses equals the sum of trade deficits.

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George Rebane

05 July 2011

We also pick up here the comment thread on taxes and who pays what from the comments under the recent ‘Tom McClintock Townhall …’ post. There the datum was cited that essentially half of American wage earners pay no federal income taxes. When you add to that people who are unemployed, working in the ‘gray market’, the retired, the disabled, … you have a cohort that numbers well above half of the voting adults in this country.
These are the constituency of the collectivists (Democrats, Team Obama, wealthy globalists, hard left environmentalists, …) and have arguably taken us past the tipping point waving their Peter/Paul Principle banners. It is they who successfully argue that wealth is easier to take than to make, and that going to a direct democracy form of governance is the only way to achieve social justice.

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D. King

05 July 2011

Got this over on Watts.
It fits!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQyh6fzGUvI

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Douglas Keachie

05 July 2011

I am so looking forward to 2012 when the Republicans sweep House, White House, and Senate, and toss out all the regulations, and go to a flat tax.
This will of course insure full employment for all American citizens, as the borders will be guarded by an outsource militia, staffed by well trained Chinese, as they were the lowest bidders, as they subcontracted it to the cheapest labor they could find, except for their excess convicts. What joy will be found in abundance for all!

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Douglas Keachie

05 July 2011

BTW, have you bothered to notice how automated both mining and timber harvesting have become? Just how many jobs in your wildest dreams will you be creating there? Maybe you should look at how many currently work in those areas, multiply the numbers by ten, and then look at how many unemployed Americans there are, looking for jobs? (not the funny statistics the Dept. of Labor publicizes)

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D. King

05 July 2011

BTW, have you bothered to notice how automated both mining and timber harvesting have become?
Yes Douglas automation is scary…in 1939.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCfIpF0C4GQ&feature=related

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Mikey McD

05 July 2011

Mr. Keachie, a simple Econ 101 class covering supply/demand, elasticity of price, etc would do wonders for you!
It takes a team to produce: Something tells me that the automated machine programmer, salesman, timber planters/foresters, shippers [trucks, trains, boats], managers, bankers, attorneys, human resource reps, book keepers, accountants, equipment mechanics, equipment manufacturers, gas stations, hotels, restaurants, etc, etc ‘behind’ the automated machines could add many jobs which you failed to cite.

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Douglas Keachie

05 July 2011

So the two of you predict what sort of u employment rate if the Republicans do the Hat Trick?

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Douglas Keachie

05 July 2011

So back from scary to reality, how many jobs, in your wildest dreams, let’s say 10 times the present day numbers in mining and timber and we’ll throw in oil too, since nobody cares what happens to our beaches, do you think will be created after Congress repeals all the unnecessary regulations, the EPA, the Food and Drug Administration, and other unnecessary government agencies?
How will you feel if one small group of men gains control of it all, as the four big banks are inching forwards towards a cosmic econ mind meld, into one GigaCorp?

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Douglas Keachie

05 July 2011

The homeless make such excellent money from using our harbours and airports, both general and commercial aviation.
“the top earners use less infrastructure than those who earn less”

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Greg Goodknight

05 July 2011

For maximum job creation, dig all ditches with teaspoons and get executives out of bizjets and into rickshaws. Maximum number minimum quality.
Automation is good. Even in medieval paintings, angels used grinding wheels while daemons used sharpening stones.

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Scott Obermuller

05 July 2011

The citizens and companies using harbors and airports pay big fees, D. K. That’s my point. By the time you get to their income and capital gains taxes, they have already paid for the infrastructure they use. On top of that, you want to punish them for making more money and hiring people. The others I mentioned that you kindly ignored use 100s of thousands, if not millions $ of dollars in resources and will pay little or nothing back. Your constant references to eliminating all regulations is just your personal hallucination. It’s not something advocated by anyone on the conservative side of this blog and no one you can quote in real life. But, hey, if you have nothing to offer, then I guess just making it up is the best you can do.

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Douglas Keachie

05 July 2011

Show me where, at 20 cent per gallon, federal aviation fuel tax, you manage to justify a $2,000,000 repaving grant. Even if it happens once in twenty years, that’s still an amazing amount of fuel being sold to pay for it. We did the calcs for one year and came up with around 2,700 gallons of fuel leaving GV airport every hour, 24/7/365. 20 cents per gallon means 10,000,000 gallons must be sold to pay for the repaving. The Feds do not get what the county or state collects. Even over 20 years, that works out to about 130 gallons per hour, 24/7/365.
Gneeral aviation is subsidized by commercial aviation, which itself services a minority of the citizens in this country, last time I looked.
And Scott, where is a list of the regulations and laws and departments considered, “unnecessary,” or “punitive?” Last time I heard about this sort of thing was an attempt to dump the Department of Ed, OSHA, and the EPA? Are those agencies safe today, or are you merely planning on a mountain oyster party, with respect to their budgets, instead of an “off with their heads” celebration?

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Douglas Keachie

05 July 2011

Greg, we’ve hit “Player Piano” mode in this country. How is you side planning on dealing with it?

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Douglas Keachie

05 July 2011

“Americans as workers will compete with the world, and Americans as consumers will enjoy the benefits of that competition.”
Except for one minor detail, which is the fact that while working at the global minimum wage, they’ll barely be able to feed themselves, let along buy any goodies. Welcome to the New Feudalism!

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Bob Hobert

05 July 2011

There must be a LOT of Doug Keachies to write all that bile!

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Douglas Keachie

05 July 2011

Another view suggests:
We are now 3rd….BEHIND SWEDEN the country with the biggest social safety net on earth. No homeless. Healthcare for all. 0% people below the poverty line. Who said you can’t be great to your citizens and succeed. Actually Switzerland was number one. Described as a socialist-liberal country, though not as liberal as the Nordic countries with health-care about what the Clintons wanted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bXKTJCA-QA&feature=grec_index
http://www.youtube.com

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Douglas Keachie

06 July 2011

Let’s see, if the laissez faire policies had been in place all along, would we be:
The United States of Rockefeller?
or maybe:
The United States of Carnegie & Frick?
how about:
The United States of Vanderbilt…or any combination of the Big Four?
Of course we can’t leave of J Pierpont Morgan…and sneaky devil that he is, he’s still there, joined with Chase and hiding behind their name.
here’s a solution for our immigrant problem (please take all your pills before reading, head exploding moment):
RICHMOND, Calif. (KGO) — The city of Richmond is poised to begin issuing municipal I.D. cards. Any Richmond resident can get one, but the program is intended for those who are undocumented.
A rally is being held in Civic Center Plaza in support of the municipal I.D. card program. People with no other form of government I.D. say it would give them access to things that most people take for granted like getting a library card, opening a bank account, cashing checks, and advocates say it would make Richmond a safer place.
San Francisco has already implemented a city I.D. card program, Oakland will soon, and now Richmond is likely next. The mayor says one in four Richmond residents is foreign-born, many are undocumented, have a hard time accessing city services and are afraid to have any contact with police, even when they are the crime victim.
Richmond is a sanctuary city where police do not assist with immigration enforcement, but the county does.
“A victim has come forward, they’ve been asked to produce some I.D., they don’t have one, then they’re referred to ICE,” said Roberto Reyes from a Coalition for Municipal I.D. cards.
“Of course we want to see a comprehensive and humane immigration reform policy and Richmond has stood for that consistently, I’ve brought forward resolutions calling for that, but in the meantime, while that seems to be stalled at the national level, we think municipal I.D. is really a step in the right direction,” said Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin.
The police department says certain details still need to be ironed-out, but it likes the idea.
“If it’s going to give people more of a sense that they can actually come to us and report crimes or give is information or anything that they need to do in conjunction with the police, then we’re very supportive,” said Richmond Police Lt. Bisa French.

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Douglas Keachie

06 July 2011

BTW, I’m up tonight to see if this 3.8 and .27, both very close to the surface, are the beginnings of the zipper opening on Cali Girl’s Geological Horror House…I can mix metaphors better than James Bond can mix martinis.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqscanv/

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D. King

06 July 2011

“We are now 3rd….BEHIND SWEDEN the country with the biggest social safety net on earth. No homeless. Healthcare for all. 0% people below the poverty line. Who said you can’t be great to your citizens and succeed.”
Where do you get your data from Douglas?
They have more homeless workers than homeless.
They have successfully created a homeless market.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isr16JFH_40

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Mikey McD

06 July 2011

In Fairytopia the rich happily pay 100% of their income to an equitable, humble, and citizen-centered government. Would-be homeless and unemployed are ever thankful to the government for health care, education, food, excessive leisure time and shelter. Despite an entire population being supported by a few there is a peaceful, loving, balance which blankets the land.

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Scott Obermuller

06 July 2011

D.K. – you are so far from reason and reality it isn’t funny. Like most of the left wing haters, you care only about mixing a few facts around that support your view of the world that is driven by envy and prejudice. Gen aviation pays a lot more than just the fuel tax. They also happen to provide a lot of good paying jobs. Not all of gen aviation is the “rich”. Most of the wear and tear on the runway at the Nevada County airport happens to be caused by some fairly heavy aircraft that is operated by the govt. You might see them if you would actually go out there and look. (BTW – this Sat is the air show – everyone come out and enjoy!) The small planes that make up most of the take-offs and landings are much lighter and don’t cause anywhere near the wear. Also, a lot of the “rich” don’t own boats or aircraft. They provide a lot of jobs and pay their fair share and then some of the general infrastructure long before we get to their income tax. I can readily supply you with a host of idiot regs that the govt refuses to get rid of. A lot of them have been brought up here on this blog. I notice that when they are, the lefties never have any answer as to why we have to put with them. It has been pointed out by myself and others on the conservative side here on several occasions that we need regs to maintain a healthy, open and honest free market system. Getting rid of many of the money sucking cabinets and agencies in DC does not mean getting rid of all of the regs they monitor. The states can regulate the environment, feed the hungry and educate the students. California alone spews out more than enough regs by itself. You constantly rant about the big businesses getting too big, but it’s the govt that supports that, not the conservatives. It happened in the 1800’s because the govt wanted to use the railroads to help quickly expand our reach and dominance west, and it happened again in the 30’s as the govt liked to suck up all of the money and pay it out to large corps to help with all of the large govt projects. It’s happening again now as the feds are picking the larger banks, financial corps and manufacturers to give our tax dollars to, while starving out the small and independent ones. And finally, we don’t have an “immigration problem”. We are a nation of immigrants. We have a problem with elected officials that take an oath of office to uphold the law and then turn around and ignore the law, openly defy the law and/or attack folks that are trying to uphold the law. If you think the illegals are afraid to use public services, I would suggest you check out the stats from the hospitals in California or better yet, the criminal system. This country isn’t a socialist country and our Constitution specifically forbids it.

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Douglas Keachie

06 July 2011

I mainly liked the part where Switzerland was described as a “socialist-liberal country, though not as liberal as the Nordic countries with health-care…”
Isn’t that where the ultrarich stash their cash, and often retire to? John Walker of Autodesk is one such person, left USA clear back in the 1990’s, took his loot and vamooshed. How does Switzerland do that, after Japan stole all the watch business. Do you suppose they’d drill for oil in their tourist attractions, if it was there? Of course the whole darn country qualifies as scenic-ky touristy area. And they seem to get by with not two, but three major languages and ethnicities? We could learn from them. Unlike Poland of course, they did have rather superior natural defenses…

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Douglas Keachie

06 July 2011

Dear, dear Scott, been there, done that, and expect to do a lot more of that:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=37902535%40N00&q=cdf&m=text

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Douglas Keachie

06 July 2011

“There must be a LOT of Doug Keachies to write all that bile!”
According to Greg, you are right, I am but one of many, many, sock puppets!

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Douglas Keachie

06 July 2011

Dear Scotty,
Beam me up to the airport, What a concept, like I’ve never been there in my life!
Totally and complete corkscrew, Scotty, check these out, all mine and a tiny fraction of a much larger aviation oriented collection:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=37902535@N00&q=cdf

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Douglas Keachie

06 July 2011

Double posted info as first one didn’t show up after additional posts, and finally it comes out of the oven, after second one posted. feel feel to delete the excess, including this note, George.

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George Rebane

06 July 2011

Here’s video sent by a reader that explains the differences in the right/left views of socio-economics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycGRERrGsMo

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Mikey McD

06 July 2011

Time for a “the lip” Obama post…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the debt ceiling should not “be used as a gun against the heads” of Americans to retain breaks for corporate jet owners, the rich or oil and gas companies.
Instead the guns should be pointed at capitalists. Hypocrite.

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Douglas Keachie

06 July 2011

@MikeyMcD
Didn’t see you hustling for George Bush to trade in the 3 747’s for a Piper Cub.

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Greg Goodknight

06 July 2011

At least GW could fly a Piper Cub, the safest plane ever built. It can only barely kill you.
Class Warfare looks to be the rallying cry of Democrats for the coming silly season. It does appear the power of the Speakership is being used by Boehner appropriately; there will be spending cuts, maybe a bone of a minor tax increase, but not enough of an additional borrowing authority to not avoid the exercise a couple more times before Nov 2012.

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Scott Obermuller

06 July 2011

So D.K., if you knew about the air tankers why did you “forget” to mention them? As I posted, your facts are carefully selected to match your prejudices. I’m sorry, but a collection of photos (as nice as they are) you took doesn’t count as an intelligent argument. Your claim that “the rich” don’t pay their fair share of the infrastructure has been shown to be totally with out merit.

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George Rebane

06 July 2011

Scott, the merit of the class war ‘fair share’ arguments notwithstanding, they are nevertheless very powerful and fall comfortably on ears that bookend gray matter with little powers of or proclivity for discernment.

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D. King

07 July 2011

George,
As good an explanation as I have read.
http://tinyurl.com/43obw25

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Douglas Keachie

07 July 2011

Scott, if you dig back into the stuff going on between Greg and myself a couple of weeks back, you’ll see that indeed I did mention them. Glad you liked the pictures. Class warfare has been going on since Ogg and Moog. Of late the rich in the USA have been winning more hands, but the casino is drifting like the Aragon Ballroom in Stan Freberg’s “Wunderful, a’ Wunderful.”
The problem is that history is going into some very uncharted waters. Please read at least a summary of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Player Piano,” to understand the problems confronting us. They are NOT the same problems we faced in the past, and playing economic Tarzan of the Capitalistic Jungle just isn’t going to swing it this time.

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Paul Emery

07 July 2011

Any way you look at it the tax cuts for the wealthy certainly didn’t create jobs. Just look at Bush2’s and Obama’s numbers since the tax cuts in 02. Bush 2, who created the tax cuts had the worst job creation record in modern history. It’s an absolute joke and completely unsubstantiated to say the Bush tax cuts created jobs. I say return to Clinton-Gingrich tax rates when so we can again balance the budget.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/01/09/bush-on-jobs-the-worst-track-record-on-record/

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Ben Emery

07 July 2011

Barry,
Timber and all the other resources you mentioned will be harvested for who? I think the major problem with the regulars at ruminations is our country is huge and the rural region we live is only one small part of it and is even a smaller part of the population. The timber you speak of would go to a housing market that has vanished due to over development that was based on credit not wages. The economy was based on wages in the 30 year period when implemented the policies I talk about,1950’s to the 1980’s, our national debt was low and we were actually the biggest creditor nation on the planet. In the 30 year period, 1980 to present, we have implemented your policies and we see a economy in shambles, huge national debt, and we are the biggest debtor nation in world history.
I go with the tax rates, trade policies, unionization, and economy based on wages over your trickle down fiasco any day.

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George Rebane

07 July 2011

It always amazes me how the impact of Vietnam and the Great Society social programs seem to disappear into the mists of progressives’ interpretation of history.

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Paul Emery

07 July 2011

Well spoken other Emery. George, what impact? You have to explain yourself. If Obama ever wakes up from his turpor and articulates what a historical sham trickle down economics (meaning the 1% rich peeing on the middle class) is he’ll be unbeatable next year.

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Paul Emery

07 July 2011

sp “torpor” meaning temporary hibernation

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Greg Goodknight

07 July 2011

Bush II inherited a recession from Clinton and just as that was hitting bottom and things were maybe looking up, 9/11 hit and terror was front and center. He never had either a strong Speaker or a solid Congress. His last two years was a Pelosi/Reid production.
Keachie did indeed mention CalFire but then kept ignoring it; a fully laden S-2 tanker (29,000lbs) makes for a lot of wear and tear. General aviation (which includes a lot of commercial air traffic) is also where the air carriers go to find and train many (if not most nowadays) of their pilots, and in a number of times in the past I’ve seen a planeload of Japan Airlines pilot trainees and their instructor out at the fuel island at the Nevada County airport in a later model Beech Bonanza, thirty or forty years newer than mine. Most of the aircraft at the local airport are a tenth the weight of the Cal Fire airtankers. CHP and air ambulances also make appearances as do small jets.
A business jet is just one piece of capital equipment being singled out, probably as a result of focus group research. Like blowing money in Vegas, which also hurt the folks working in the industry being targeted more than the supposed fat cats in industry.
I suspect higher taxes on businesses hurts retirement savings (including not only my meager 401k but also Calpers and Calstrs) more than the Heinz-Kerry’s of the country.

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